Patrick port row due in court

Container loading at Patrick’s Port Botany terminal. The Maritime Union of Australia is taking action to try to stop the company introducing more automation, saying it has not consulted with workers. Patrick’s owner Asciano says the company couldn’t have been more open about its plans.
Photo: Jim Rice

by
Mark Skulley

Transport group
Asciano
said it was disappointed the Maritime Union of Australia had taken legal action to stop the automation of its stevedoring operations at Port Botany.

An initial hearing in the Federal Court has been scheduled for Friday to consider the union’s application for an injunction to stop Asciano’s Patrick unit from introducing straddle cranes and other equipment which would cut employee numbers at one of the nation’s busiest container ports.

Patrick revealed the automation plans within months of signing a new workplace agreement after what the union said were 20 “tough months of negotiations" which didn’t include any mention of the new technology.

An Asciano spokeswoman said yesterday the company had complied with the requirement to consult over a major change to the workplace.

“We have been open with the MUA and our employees and clearly advised them over six weeks ago that we would be ordering the straddles in August 2012 for delivery in late 2013," the spokeswoman said.

“We could not have been more open and transparent regarding the planned changes and ensuring that we provide as much time as possible to consult on these changes which are not planned to take effect until mid 2014."

The MUA will seek to stop Patrick from taking any further immediate steps before consulting with the union, arguing that this is a requirement under the April workplace deal.

The union will argue that Patrick breached a clause in the agreement when it said on September 3 it had agreed to buy 44 Autostrads cargo cranes from a Finnish company by the end of next year.

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The union is upset with a plan announced in mid-July for Patrick to sack more than half of its Port Botany workforce and replace them with automated technology.

“The company says it will consult, then does the opposite, and we’re going to pull them up on this," said MUA national secretary
Paddy Crumlin
.

“We’re looking for a measure of respect, decency and maturity from Patrick’s management to engage in a dialogue with its workforce, rather than this single-mindedness which borders on arrogance."

The union’s deputy national secretary,
Mick Doleman
, said the decision demonstrated Patrick’s “poor judgment, lack of good faith and lack of commitment to any reasonable consultation" with its workforce.

“Ever since the new EBA was signed, Patrick has treated its workforce with contempt – yet it is the workers who have positively contributed to the company for many more years than the current fly-by-night managers," he said.

Mr Crumlin, who is also president of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), will meet International Longshoremen’s Association president Harold Daggett, International Longshore and Warehouse Union president Bob McEllrath, and ITF maritime co-ordinator Steve Cotton in Washington.

The transport unions will seek to lobby US investors with major shareholdings in Asciano.

The MUA says US-headquartered companies manage 46 per cent of Asciano shares, with the top three being JP Morgan Chase (19 per cent), Citibank (13 per cent) and Blackrock Investment (10 per cent).

It says only 8.15 per cent of shares are listed as managed directly from the US, while the rest are listed with the location as Australia but are recognisably American companies.